In his well-known book A Christian Manifesto, published in 1981, the great Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer raised the question of when it was right for Christians to take up arms against the government.
In his view, Christians should work within the system through legal and political means. If that failed, civil disobedience could be called for. Only then, as a last resort in extreme circumstances with a tyrannical government, he believed forceful resistance could potentially be justified.
When the book was written, the question of armed rebellion may have seemed more abstract.
But it was certainly not an abstract question in American history. After all, our nation was born out of political violence against British rule with the slogan, “Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.”
Is it possible that, once again, we are approaching the time when Christians need to take up arms against the government?
Absolutely, categorically no.
“But how you can be so dogmatic?” you ask. “After all, we have reason to believe that the last election was stolen. And we are concerned that it could happen again.”
For argument’s sake, let’s say those concerns are valid...